Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heavy duty pneumatic tires, and in particular, relates to a heavy duty pneumatic tire that may exhibit in excellent uneven wear resistance while ensuring wet performance.
Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-51504 discloses a heavy duty pneumatic tire comprising a tread portion provided with a plurality of tread blocks separated by a circumferentially extending main groove and a plurality of lateral grooves. Such a tire tread tends to be generated uneven wear such as heel and toe wear on the respective tread blocks. In order to improve uneven wear resistance of the tread blocks, a heavy duty pneumatic tire provided with a tie-bar on the bottom of lateral grooves has been proposed. The tie-bar may reduce the amount of deformation of tread blocks when coming into contact with the road so as to reduce wear energy generated on the respective tread blocks.
Unfortunately, the lateral grooves may lose its drainage feature relatively early due to presence of the tie-bar when the tread portion wears. Thus, the wet performance of the heavy duty pneumatic tire having the tie-bar may deteriorate relatively early.